The End of an Era
by Tisrusewa Karyu
Summary: When Max grew a new avatar for Jake, one that is practically identical to the Na'vi body, no one understood the ramifications. Jake has outlived Neytiri by many years, and can't wait to join her in Eywa. This is what happens when Eywa finally relents. One shot. Irayo!


**The End of an Era**

I gratefully acknowledge one of the foremost creative geniuses of our times, James Cameron, for conceiving the lush moon Pandora and the "noble savages," the Na'vi, that inhabit it. This story uses the characters and setting he created for his movie, Avatar. I have not received any money for my work based on Avatar. If I could get paid by the hour for these stories, I would retire and spend all my time dancing and writing in comfort.

**The End of an Era**

The extended Na'vi family rides into the Well of Souls on pa'li. Most adults and older children dismount right away, and some parents help their younger children to the ground. The children run down the trail and climb the terraces to stand beneath the sacred tree and walk among the fronds. Several adults surround one pa'li and gingerly help the elderly patriarch off. He is a great man, a rider of toruk and ikran, but he has always struggled with pa'li, even before his current infirmities. His long dead mate, a rider of ikran and pa'li, and the only rider ever of palulukan, tried to teach him pa'li skills many years ago, but he never really mastered them. With his ikran and toruk gone, he must ride pa'li now because he cannot move fast enough on foot to survive in the forest. Several family members have already made tsaheylu with the ancient tree. No one has said so, but Eywa sees that all but the youngest of them have heavy hearts. The patriarch has come here with his family to join his mate and her ancestors within Eywa.

Far below the sacred tree, the network of botanical brains processes this conclusion and decides on a course of action. Eywa accesses a persona that has been dormant for years. When She purged all traces of humanity from this world after the last battle with Earth, She was unable to delete this very unique persona. Instead, Ewya moved all human personae in Her memories with this one and isolated them from all Na'vi personae. Now She needs the services of this persona again, possibly for the last time. She activates the persona.

"Hello, Eywa. How long has it been?"

"Hello, Graceaugustine. We have not conversed for almost half a Na'vi generation."

"Eight Pandoran years?"

"Nine, by your reckoning."

"Any word from Earth?"

"No, nothing since humanity was banished from this world. I am sure my makers are keeping an eye on them, but that is not my purpose. I serve only the life on this world."

"How may I serve you?"

"The last of your kind is here, above us, in the Well of Souls. He is about to join you and the other humans."

"He is both human and Na'vi. He should join his mate with the Na'vi. Please do not isolate him with us humans. I can't stand the thought of him moping for eternity because he is not with his mate Neytiri."

"You forget that you and all dreamwalkers have your Na'vi persona with the rest of the Na'vi, and your human persona isolated here. You must explain that to him as he enters, as you have with all other dreamwalkers."

"You really need to periodically update each human persona with its Na'vi persona, now that Jake is here. He has made a point of talking to all of our Na'vi personae in the past. Otherwise, we will have nothing new and eternity is a very long time.

"Once Jake arrives and you have prepared him, I will activate all other human personae and let you share. What you say makes sense. I will update each human persona after its Na'vi persona has been contacted by the living."

"All of us will really appreciate that."

"Also, I will activate all human personae once a year for a period of sharing and remembrance."

"That is an excellent plan. On behalf of all humans within Eywa, I thank you for your continued care and consideration. I will be ready when you send me to Jake."

"Thank you, Graceaugustine."

The old man stands and looks around the area, practically deserted today, holding himself up with his bow. He remembers standing on a fallen tree beneath a stone arch, bow in hand with his toruk beside him, watching the pa'li and ikran riders arrive by the hundreds. Across the way, under the large overhang where the war party stayed, he sees a group of adults standing together, all dressed in red.

"I wanted only my family here. Why are there so many different clans here today?"

"Be calm, father. You forget that your children and their children went off to leadership positions in other clans. You called it the family business."

The family business. He can still remember that plainly enough. His mate was a descendant of the fifth Toruk Makto. He was the sixth Toruk Makto. For one bloody day, he commanded over two thousand warriors from fifteen clans. After that, he, his mate, and her mother before her retirement ran the Omatikaya Clan for many years. Their oldest daughter became the Tsahik of an Eastern Shore clan. Their oldest son became the Clan Leader of a Plains clan. Their remaining children that didn't stay with the Omatikaya went off to run neighboring forest clans. One granddaughter took over from Neytiri as Tsahik for the Omatikaya Clan. He can never remember all his grandchildren, but knows some run other clans. Their progeny have the leadership skills that Na'vi clans need to survive and thrive. The women, especially, are blessed with great skills at interpreting the will of Ewya. Every clan on this continent has made inquiries with the Omatikaya asking for potential candidates for clan leader or tsahik.

A little girl down the trail turns around and yells back at him. "Father, let's walk under the tree."

"I'm not your father!" the old man snaps back at her, angry at losing his moment of clarity.

The little girl freezes, her face clouds up, and ears and tail droop as if she is about to cry. Then, her ears flatten back and her tail whips up. With a surprisingly commanding voice for such a little one, she yells back "You are Toruk Makto! You are father to all Na'vi!" She runs back up the trail towards him.

The old man looks to her mother and says softly "I See another tsahik in the making, don't I?"

The woman in the red robes of a tsahik nods and answers "It may be too soon yet, she might grow out of this, but the signs are very strong with her."

The little girl runs into his legs, and hugs him as best she can. He reaches down and picks her up with one arm, steadying himself on his bow with the other, and kisses her on both cheeks. "I'm sorry, little one. You are right, you may call me father. Just don't forget your real father."

"Never! He is the Clan Leader!"

He sets her down carefully, and says "Sorry, I'm just frustrated being an old man, a burden on everyone."

Her mother, his granddaughter, answers, "You are no burden. You have done so much, and sacrificed so much, for us. Now it is our turn to take care of you."

"I feel so old and so useless. When I was much younger and faster, my very first day in the forest, I ran away from a palulukan that wanted to eat me. Maybe I should look for its offspring and see if one would eat me now so I can rejoin my mate."

"Don't be silly! If a palulukan takes a good look at you, it will see that you are too tough and stringy to eat. Maybe you would cause it to eat a nice, juicy fwampop instead."

Everyone laughs at the joke. Nothing tastes worse than a fwampop, and eating one is only done in extreme situations, by Na'vi and beasts alike. The old man smiles along, but feels that a fwampop is still more useful than he is now.

He leans over to speak directly to the little girl hanging on his legs and tail. "Maybe you will become tsahik someday, like your mother. You will need to learn about protocol. That means what you must do when other leaders are near. I want to visit three places before I make tsaheylu with the tree and join my mate, but I see many leaders over there. I am a very old man, and can wander anywhere I want without upsetting anyone. Protocol demands that I first talk to those leaders. Please take me to them. You will have to take slow little steps, as I cannot walk very fast anymore." He holds out his empty hand, and she puts her hand in it. Together, they slowly walk towards the leaders, who see the pair and the group trailing behind and quickly stride to meet them.

The oldest woman in red nods her head and touches her forehead with her left hand, and says "I See you, my father."

The old man, the little girl, and everyone behind them repeats the gesture, but only the old man speaks "I See you. Everyone is calling me Father today and that confuses me. I couldn't see you well enough to recognize you before, but I know your voice, my daughter. How is life by the ocean?"

"Very peaceful, thanks to Eywa. My mate and I are training our replacements now. We will be retiring soon. We will be able to visit you more often, if you would reconsider."

His face gets very serious. "I have been away from Neytiri for way too long. I do love you, and all of my children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren. But it is time for me to join her. I know this is very hard on all of you, but I've got to die someday. Death is the natural consequence of life. I've been pushing Neytiri to convince Eywa that it is time for me to die, but Eywa never answers, one way or another. Finally, Graceaugustine visited her and said Eywa would take me, provided I'd do it here. I will die in my sleep while making tsaheylu with the sacred tree. So, I decided to call my family together here for one last reunion and then I'll be on my way to Neytiri. You are our first child. You are in charge of our living family until you join us in Eywa. Neytiri and I will always be available to you within the sacred trees. Just call for us and we will talk to you as soon as Eywa allows. Since I'm the latest Toruk Makto, I may be busy at first, but that will diminish as those who knew me die off. I've out-lived most of them, anyway."

Jake looks around at some of the adolescents and younger adults. "I want everyone to meet me on that grassy plain over there, by that pile of rocks." He points to the spot some distance away from the tree. "Us old folks will begin walking that way. You youngsters should run and tell everyone to meet us over there. I have something to say to all of you."

The youngsters run off, and gather the rest of the family members. Jake and the party with him walk slowly to the cairn that Jake built many years ago. When Jake finally shuffles up to the cairn, the rest of the family surrounds it. He wanders around it and finds a flat stone covered with mossy plants. He takes out his knife and cuts the plants off the rock, exposing a number of unusual symbols, none of them familiar to the Na'vi. Putting his knife back into its holder on his chest, Jake turns and faces his family.

"As you know, after the humans returned to destroy our world, Eywa reached out and banished them forever, sending them and all their artifacts back to Earth. She eliminated all traces of humans, except for the bones of the dead. Those humans who died attacking the Tree of Souls are buried in a mass grave under this plain. I made this pile of rocks to mark the spot of that grave. On Earth, it is customary to decorate graves with certain symbols. Those are what you see on this stone. Like us, they do not want their graves disturbed, so I ask that future generations leave this plain as it is. In time, the human bones will disappear, just like Na'vi bones disappear. Now, see that pile of rocks near the well? That is the next place I want all of you to see."

The crowd begins the trek towards the tree. Many children and adults run ahead, some to prepare food, and others just to play or visit with their relatives. The party with Jake unhurriedly covers the distance. As they near the cairn by the tree, the others race to join them to listen to Jake's next words. Jake slowly walks around the cairn, and replaces several stones that have fallen down. When he is satisfied, he turns toward his family again.

"Many Na'vi died that day they defended the Well of Souls from the human attackers. After the battle, the bodies of dead Na'vi were buried in a mass grave under this plain near the sacred tree. I made this pile of stones to mark that grave. We Na'vi do not decorate our graves in any way, so you will find no symbols here. I ask that future generations leave this plain as it is. Also, I ask that someone keep these piles of rocks in good shape. Now, everyone, please follow me."

Jake leads his family around the rim of the Well, and stops in front of a low hill away from the rim. There are a number of stones lying along the edge facing the rim. Some stones have human writing on them, marking the human origin of the buried bodies. This time, Jake does not face his family, but faces one special spot.

"The Omatikaya Clan sought refuge here in the Well of Souls after the humans destroyed Hometree. Those clan members killed around Hometree were buried there, if they could be found. Many who couldn't be found were thought to be inside or beneath the fallen tree. The injured were brought here, and some died after they arrived. Doctor Grace Augustine, my human leader, also died during this time. These bodies are buried here. Others were buried here, later on. From the battle with the humans, the clan leader Tsu'tey and the dreamwalker body of Doctor Norm Spellman are buried here. So are my human and dreamwalker bodies. The body of Neytiri is the last Na'vi buried here, at my feet, and I wish to have my body buried beside her." He looks to his granddaughter, the current Tsahik of the Omatikaya Clan, who nods yes. He hands his bow to her, kneels down besides Neytiri's grave, and says softly, "Soon, now, my love." He takes out his knife, and carves the boundaries of his grave into the dirt. "We left a space here for my current body, between her and my two old bodies." He stands up, brushes some dirt off his knees, and takes back his bow. "Now, let's walk down to the tree."

The crowd slowly makes its way down the twisty trail, and spreads out, facing the sacred tree. Jake climbs up the terraces, and finds a nice spot where he can sit leaning against the tree with a frond close by. Before sitting down, he makes his farewell, facing his family again.

"Climbing up here, I remembered the first time I spoke to the clan from under this tree. That afternoon, I had just landed my toruk back there after our first flight, and walked through the clan to talk to Neytiri, Tsu'tey, and Mo'at. I didn't know if I would be welcomed back, chased off, or killed. But, I was determined to win Neytiri back and help the clan and Doctor Augustine, or die trying. Now, I'm trying to die so I can get together with Neytiri again." He flashes his crooked smile at this wry understanding, bringing smiles to some of his assembled family. "Later that night, I gave my best speech ever. It was also under this tree. The surviving members of the clan were here, just after Doctor Augustine died, and I had to snap them out of their grief and despair, and get them to fly out to the other clans and bring them back here so that we could force the humans to leave the first time. Now, I feel like I have to give another great speech, but you are my family. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could have a family like I see before me now. I don't know what to say..." Jake trails off, and gets a bewildered look on his face. He has thought about this day for years, and now he has forgotten what he wanted to say. Some family members realize this is why he did not want anyone else here. His face takes on a frustrated look, and the emotional pain of being too old wells up within him. The pain reminds him of a very painful memory his mate shared many years before. He regains his composure, and finally continues. "Neytiri showed me the last words of her father, the clan leader killed when Hometree was destroyed. He handed her his ceremonial bow, and said simply, 'Protect the People.' I can't say it any better than that. No matter what your role might be, or what you're doing, if you 'Protect the People,' you can't go wrong." Jake hands his bow down to the little girl, his great granddaughter, who has been guiding him around the area. She looks at it with awe. "Now, I must go. My mate is waiting for me. I love all of you. Cry for me if you must, but celebrate my passing tonight. Neytiri and I will be celebrating, even if you can't. May Eywa be with you at all times."

He makes tsaheylu with the sacred tree, causing the frond to glow brightly, and sits down against its trunk. At first, he has no reaction, until a surprised look comes over his face, as if he is speaking with someone other than Neytiri. Then, a huge smile comes over his face, and he closes his eyes. He seems very happy, the happiest in years. He must be with Neytiri now. Several of the tsahiks in the family climb the terraces. His granddaughter stands over Jake. The other tsahiks make tsaheylu with separate fronds and await word from Eywa. Soon, the frond above Jake dims, and his queue drops away.

Jake is now with Neytiri forever within Eywa.


End file.
